How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I hardly saw Via at school this year, and when I did it was awkward. It felt like she was judging me. I knew she didn't like my new look. I knew she didn't like my group of friends. […] Ella and I badmouthed her to each other […] We knew we were being mean, but it was easier to ice her out if we pretended she had done something to us. The truth is she hadn't changed at all: we had. We'd become these other people, and she was still the person she'd always been. That annoyed me so much and I didn't know why. (7.School.1)
While Miranda's all over the map with her friends and her clothes and her hair and her stories, Via maintains a smooth, steady course. Why do you think there is such a difference between how the two girls navigate adolescence?
Quote #8
"I can't believe how much you've grown up this year, Auggie," she said softly, putting her hands on the sides of my face.
"Do I look taller?"
"Definitely." She nodded.
"I'm still the shortest one in my grade."
"I'm not really even talking about your height," she said. (8.Packing.28-32)
What is Auggie's mom talking about? (What are moms ever talking about?) She's talking, of course, about how Auggie has become so much more emotionally independent since he started school, and how he's gaining a stronger sense of himself by defining himself and establishing himself within a community larger than his family.
Quote #9
I put my head in the window so Jack wouldn't hear what I was saying.
"Can you guys not kiss me a lot after graduation?" I asked quietly. "It's kind of embarrassing."
"I'll try my best."
"Tell Mom, too?"
"I don't think she'll be able to resist, Auggie, but I'll pass it along."
"Bye Dear ol' Dad."
He smiled, "Bye, my son, my son." (8.The Drop-Off.59-65)
That hugging and kissing stuff can be embarrassing for middle schoolers, and they need their parents to acknowledge that they don't need that baby-love stuff anymore. But even though Auggie wants his folks to treat him differently in front of his friends, he cleverly signals to his dad that he still values their emotional closeness by reviving their tried-and-true Auggie Doggie/dear ol' Dad routine.